A new bill that would free 60 of the country's most prosperous and well-managed municipalities from the obligation to submit their budgets to the interior minister for approval has the Finance Ministry fuming. The object is to cut through the red tape that interferes with local government and reserve much-needed scrutiny for some 200 failing, bankrupt or near-bankrupt townships and development towns. 

Defense Minister Ehud Barak's decision to transfer 1,000 rifles to the Palestinians last week was made against the recommendation of Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) chief Yuval Diskin, defense officials said over the weekend. 

At our age, a man begins to develop a certain interest in the black-bordered notices on the obituary page. You find friends and acquaintances there every day. Those who live long become sought-after eulogizers. Eulogizing becomes a way of life. 

In an effort to come to a final decision over whether to indict Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Head of Investigations Cmdr. Yohanan Danino is expected to meet on Sunday with the heads of the police teams investigating the premier on the Talansky cash-envelopes affair, the Rishon Tours affair, and the Investment Center affair, in which, according to suspicions, Olmert granted large state investment funds to a company which his close associate and former law partner Uri Messer had been hired to represent. 

Along the timeline, 15 years minus one week since the signing of the Oslo Accords on the lawn of Bill Clinton's White House, it seems the prime minister is right. We have never been so close to peace with the Palestinians. It's enough to mention that 13 years ago minus one month, during the most sensitive days of the Oslo process, then Jerusalem mayor Ehud Olmert convinced the Republican candidate for the U.S. presidency, Senator Bob Dole, to introduce a bill to move the U.S. embassy to Israel's "undivided" capital. 

The government must discuss the evacuation-compensation bill so as to prevent undue suffering for residents of West Bank communities in the event that peace negotiations produce an agreement which would require their removal, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said on Sunday. 

Government meeting focuses on justice minister's proposal to regulate, limit High Court's legislative authority, as majority of ministers object. 'Debate aims to create balance between legislative, judicial, executive authorities,' says prime minister 

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney met with President Shimon Peres on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti forum on the edge of Italy's Lake Como on Saturday, telling the Israeli leader that Russia is selling arms to Damascus and Iran with the clear knowledge that they are being channeled to Hezbollah and terror groups in Iraq.

Yesterday's four-way summit in Damascus was one of this region's most important diplomatic events for some time. It is not merely Bashar Assad's newfound standing because of the French attitude to Syria, but a new strategic opportunity.

A husband and wife were killed on Saturday when their car flipped over in the Beit She'an Valley. The woman reportedly lost control of the vehicle after driving onto an oil spot on the road. 

Iran dismissed on Saturday a warning by France's president that the Islamic Republic was taking a dangerous gamble over its nuclear program because one day Israel could strike. 

The slopes of Jerusalem's Mount of Olives and the Kidron Valley Stream are tourist sites of global renown, but in recent years they have unfortunately turned into scrap heaps for discarded construction materials. 

Every time Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas visits Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office in Jerusalem, two individuals in the region stretch their necks to the limit, as though straining to hear whether anything new is happening. One neck is that of King Abdullah of Jordan, the other is the collective Lebanese neck. With reports about the Israeli proposals to the Palestinians replete with hints about progress on the issues of the refugees and border demarcation, Jordan and Lebanon have cause for concern - particularly with regard to the refugee question.

The Kupat Holim Clalit health maintenance organization (HMO) was ordered last week to pay a record NIS 14 million in damages after one of its physicians failed to diagnose a deadly genetic disease. The settlement is the largest sum ever paid in Israel for medical malpractice. 

Iran's armed forces will begin three days of war games on Monday involving anti-aircraft defense systems, Iranian media said on Sunday.

Fatah leader Hussam Khader was among the prisoners Israel released last week as part of a goodwill gesture to the Palestinian Authority. He makes no secret of his loathing for the Israeli occupation, and it didn't help that Israel Defense Forces and Shin Bet security service personnel had shown up the night before we spoke to photograph his home.

The United States is not sending an envoy to take part in the next round of indirect Israeli-Syrian talks in Turkey, a US embassy official said Saturday night.

The Palestinian Authority's security forces have shown marked improvement in their action against Hamas and Islamic Jihad recently, according to Israeli security officials. A particularly dramatic change has taken place over the past month in an area in which the PA had not been previously active - dealing with the Islamic charity and civilian associations considered to constitute Hamas' civilian infrastructure.

The Israel Police's Investigations and Intelligence Division is expected to formulate its recommendation Sunday regarding an indictment against Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

For those who thought that the discovery several years ago of the fact that Hillary Clinton had a step-grandfather who was Jewish (yes, her grandmother's second husband) was the low point in the history of attempts to influence the Jewish vote, there is good news. The Republicans have gone their Democratic rivals one better while introducing vice presidential pick Sarah Palin to the public.